“Poltergeist” abandons the suburbs in favor of the country in this Hollywood debut by yet another fraternal directing team, the Hong Kong-born Pang Brothers, whose joint work in Thailand included the flashy “Bangkok Dangerous” (2000), about a deaf-mute hit man, and the visually striking horror movie “The Eye” (2002), about a girl haunted by the spirit of the donor from whom she received a cornea transplant. “The Messengers” proves that the Pangs can exercise their technical flair as adeptly in an English-language environment as in an Asian one. But once again it shows that style in the absence of narrative invention doesn’t amount to much.

The plot, scripted by Mark Wheaton from a story by Todd Farmer, concerns a family that leaves its Chicago home in favor of a dilapidated North Dakota sunflower farm. But as daughter Jess Solomon (Kristen Stewart) learns, the place is haunted by the ghosts of its previous occupants, whose presence is first revealed to her angelic three-year old brother Ben (played by twins Evan and Theodore Turner). Of course, their parents Roy and Denise (Dylan McDermott and Penelope Ann Miller) don’t believe her, and when the spirits’ actions take a violent turn, she’s suspected of making the whole thing up. Events ultimately prove otherwise, and Jess will have to handle things pretty much by herself, even though by the close she’ll have acquired an amiable, if slightly geeky, local boyfriend (Dustin Milligan).

This is pretty standard haunted-house territory, and though the Pangs wrap it up in a flashy package, “The Messengers” doesn’t deliver much beyond a few decently-choreographed if rather ordinary shocks. There are no real surprises and very little suspense; despite (or because of) the presence of John Corbett lurking about as a transient field hand who just might be too helpful, you know fairly quickly where the story is heading, and the movie doesn’t disappoint those expectations, in the end offering a chase-based denouement that provides a “logical,” though silly and obvious, explanation for all the goings-on. And while the setting allows the Pangs to toy with Hitchcockian imagery—a derelict house that might have come out of “Psycho” (though the cellar floor that apparently was built over quicksand is a new touch) and a flock of crows that have obviously migrated from “The Birds”—they don’t prove as adept in employing them as the master did.

The acting is strictly functional, with Stewart going through the usual damsel-in-distress and plucky heroine paces as she skulks around the farm in search of ghosts (though to this viewer at least, she looks unhealthily thin), and McDermott and Miller proving thoroughly unremarkable adult presences. The Turner tykes are certainly cherubic (and the fact that Ben’s mute as a result of a traumatic experience means they don’t have to deliver dialogue), and Milligan is a likable lug, but Corbett is burdened toward the close with the sort of material no actor, however capable, could handle without becoming laughable. (The pitchfork doesn’t help.) William B. Davis, of “X-Files” fame, shows up briefly as a red-herring banker. He’s apparently given up cigarettes.

“The Messengers” has its share of CGI effects, which like those in earlier entries from Ghost House Pictures (the “Grudge” and “Boogeyman” movies), are merely adequate. But David Geddes’ cinematography is solid, and Joseph Loduca’s score, apart from the obligatory thrusts at “gotcha” moments, is moodily effective.

Ultimately, though, the world’s best effects couldn’t overcome the familiarity of this story. “The Messengers” is just dumb formula, and even the Pang brothers’ technique can’t raise it above the humdrum.